Part 19 (1/2)
”Grab some bottled water on the way home, would you? Oh, and some half-and-half for the morning.”
”Sure. Anything else?”
Kenny rolled his eyes.
”Yeah, but I can't remember what it is.”
”Well, call me when you think of it.”
”Cool. Love you.”
”Love you, too.”
I hung up.
”Sophie?” I said.
She looked over at me, surprised I knew her name.
”You carrying?”
”Huh?”
”A gun, Sophie. Are you carrying a gun?”
”No. I hate guns.”
”Me, too,” I said.
”But you've got one in your pocket.”
”That's called irony. How strung out are you right now?”
”Oh, I'm not bad,” Sophie said.
”You look bad.”
”Who are are you?” you?”
”That's Patrick Kenzie.” Helene lit a cigarette. ”He found Amanda that time?”
Sophie hugged herself and fresh beads of sweat popped on her forehead.
”Helene?” I said.
”What?”
”I'd feel a lot better if you put that bag you're carrying on that couch and step away from it.”
She placed the bag on the couch and came back over to Kenny's side.
”Let's all go in the dining room.”
We sat at the card table and Kenny fired up a cigarette while I got a closer look at Sophie. She kept running her tongue behind her upper lip, back and forth, back and forth. Her eyes rolled right to left, left to right, right to left like they were on ball bearings. It was forty-two degrees outside and she was sweating.
”I thought you were going to let this go,” Kenny said.
”You thought incorrectly.”
”She won't pay you.”
”Who?”
”Bea.”
”Or Amanda,” Helene said. ”She doesn't come into her money for, like, another year.”
”Well, then, it's settled,” I said. ”I quit. But since we're on the subject, where's Amanda?”
”She went to visit her father in California,” Helene said.
”She has a father in California?” I said.
”She didn't come out of a cereal box,” Helene said. ”She had a mother and a father.”
”What's her father's name?”
”Like you don't remember.”
”From a case I worked twelve years ago, Helene? No, I don't remember.”
”Bruce Combs.”
”But his friends call him B Diddy?”
”What?”
”Never mind. Where's Bruce live?”
”Salinas.”
”And that's where Amanda flew into?”
”Yeah.”
”Which airport?”
”Salinas Airport.”
”Salinas doesn't have a commercial airport. You mean she flew into either Santa Cruz or Monterey.”